La Roche-Posay EFFACLAR Purifying Foaming Gel

The blurb,

The purifying formulation lifts dirt, grime and sebum away from the surface of the skin without disrupting its delicate balance. The skin is left feeling clean and fresh, and is soothed with restorative La Roche-Posay thermal spring water.
Work the thick gel into a lather and it will produce a light non-irritating foam that is easy to rinse away. Apply every morning and evening by massaging in gently.

My thoughts,


I bought in a hurry during the same shopping trip that I bought the Boots No7 primer. I was slightly confused by the range of products by Efflacar available  - too much stuff written in French and my french isn't that good. Add to that the fact that a lot of their products appear to do the same thing with only minute differences; the whole section gave me a headache.


 I really needed a new face wash and if you follow my blog you will know I like to change things up a lot. I'm on a quest to find a product or combination of products that tick all the boxes for me. I wanted to try out a skin care routine based entirely on La Roche-Posay products especially since boots had a 3 for 2 offer, but there were certain things I couldn't bring myself to buy, like the "Thermal Spring water" referenced in the blurb. The name wasn't doing a good job of selling it to me, I felt I couldn't bring myself to buy a bottle of overpriced fancy water.  Anyway, I grabbed a bottle of the Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel and tried it out as soon as I got home. 


My first thoughts were "okay, this is nice", but I wasn't blown away. I wasn't really wowed by it till I tried it after using my Boots Moisturising Mask, it usually leaves a residue which at times make my skin feel heavy. As I washed the residue off with Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel, I noticed how clean it felt, I could feel it take the oil off. And this got me thinking of how much left over make up it must slurp off on a regular basis with out me knowing. 


It lathers, but not too much. I used this with my face brush and my skin looked gorgeous all day. I felt so confident, I didn't wear any make up when I was out running errands. The gel is described as thick, but as you can see from the picture, it is actually more on the runny side.


You get a 200ml bottle for just over £10 and a little goes a long way. 




Boots still have a 3 for 2 mix and match thing happening. If you have oily skin,  suggest buying this along with the Efflacar M moisturiser (review coming soon) and for the 3rd item it is going to be a toss up between Effaclar K or the Effaclar duo, which to be honest I havent' tried either of them yet, but I hope to be getting one of them by friday and a review would be up in due course. 

Products For Oily/Acne Prone Skin - Save and Splurge

A few tried, tested and loved products from over the past few months.

FACE WASH

Splurge  

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel - £10.21 at boots. 

Save

Lush Dark Angels available for £5.95 - can't beat cleansing and exfoliating all in one easy step. I would carry on using it if it did not stain the bathroom. 

MOISTURISER

Splurge 

La Roche Posay Effclar M available for £13.50 at boots. Matifes my skin like no other, definitely my top choice. 

Save

A long time favourite -Good Things Miracle Mattifier Lotion available for £7.99 at boots. 

Save

Boots Oil Of Evening Primrose With Vitamin E £2.79 at boots. Great product to have at hand when dealing with the dryness from Retin-A.

TONER

These products are neither Save nor Splurge. They are very affordable.

Boots Traditional Glycerin and Rosewater - £2.32 at boots. 

Alpha Bright Skin Brightening Toner with Mandelic Acid - £5.40 from ebay

EXFOLIATOR

No Splurge products, I've got two saves.

Save

Lush Lip Scrub - controversial choice, I know, but if your skin can take the sugar granules, it is the way to soft smooth skin. I can't stop touching my face after I use it - eek! £4.95 at Lush.

Queen Helene Mint Julep Scrub at amazon for £3.17. 

MASK

I'm very new to the face mask scene, so my experience is limited. 

I'm very impressed with Lush Brazen Honey, good thing is it retails for only £5.50, so I can stock up regularly.

With any product I suggest sticking it out for at least 2 weeks to a month before you decide, unless your skin reacts badly to it then feel free to chuck away! However, if I had thrown my Retin-A out after the first week I won't have seen the progress I've documented over the past few months.  And, nope I'm not being paid to endorse boots, they just have the best deals and best rewards points system so I shop there often. You can easily purchase all of these items including the more pricey stuff with their 3 for 2 offer.  Review of the La Roche-Posay products coming soon. 

La Roche Posay Review: Effaclar M Sebo-Regulating Matifying Moisturizer

I've put off writing this review for so long, I don't even know where to begin! 


I've come to appreciate mattifying face creams since I switched to the Aveno face cream with SPF. I probably should have done more research and tried to find something that ticked all the boxes - mattify, sun protection, doesn't clog pores. I guess, there a face cream change in my future, but not for a few months. I want to finish the stash I have. 


The consistency of the Effaclar M Sebo-Regulating Matifying Moisturizer isn't as creamy as favourite - Good Things Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser (that is a mouthful). And in all honesty, La Roche Posay makes some big claims, but gun to my head I will take the Good Things Miracle Mattifier over it. 


According to the blurb on their website the  Sebo-Regulating Matifying Moisturizer will....

Day after day, can slow the production of sebum thanks to the exclusive combination of: - Sebum Targeting technology™ to target and unclog pores blocked by sebum, - Zinc Pidolate to neutralise shine at the source, - vitamins CG and E to prevent sebum oxidation, which aggravates oily skin problems. Oil-free texture enriched in absorbent microspheres for matt skin that lasts.

Honestly, I didn't really notice all that. My skin was matte, but I didn't see any of the other changes they promised. Maybe I didn't use it long enough. I didn't get to the end of the bottle. 


Another issue I have which I only discovered jsut yesterday is La Roche Posay is under the L'oreal umbrella. I don't use anything by L'oreal or it's sister companies for personal reasons. So, I'm afraid this is the end of the La Roche Posay journey for me. No big loss, there are products that offer the same things they promise for much less. 

Hope you all had a merry xmas....

I Recently Discovered.

The Tallest Man On Earth.





I've previously documented my tendency to discover songs on TV shows and this is no exception. I'd seen "Tallest Man..." on posters for festivals, but I never bothered to look him up till I heard his song on Parenthood (watch it and watch the film).  I'm hooked! He sounds like more modern Bob Dylan. He is definitely someone I'm be looking forward to seeing live. 


Daniel Martin Moore - It is Well With My Soul

I love this song, in spite of it's religious leanings. I think it is one of those songs that transcends religion. Daniel Martin Moore sings it so beautifully, every since I heard it, I try to tell myself - "It is Well With My Soul" when I'm getting stressed out or freaking out about something and it really calms me down. There is a detailed history of this song on Wikipedia. 


Tom Freund - Little Room of Mine





I don't remember hearing this on Parenthood, but when I went over to the Parenthood page on NBC it was on the list of songs featured and I thought I should check it out. And I'm glad I did. 

REVIEW: LUSH BRAZENED HONEY

Blurb from Lush website

Sage, Juniper and rosemary infusions, ground cardamon and clove bud oil for their antiseptic qualities.
Eggs, honey and almond oil to soothe, soften and moisturise the skin.
Fresh fennel, fresh ginger root, fresh parsley and fresh coriander to detox, and stimulate - and their enzymes will help break down dead skin cells.
Fresh lime juice cleans and degreases.  Ground almond shells act as a stimulating scrub to lift away dead grey skin. Finally kaolin and talc absorb grease and give a lovely texture to hold all those ingredients onto the skin.
Together they make a mask that will wake up tired, neglected skin.

During my research into skin care over the years, I found that turmeric and lime juice are both good for lightening spots and freckles on the skin.  Seeing that they are both ingredients in this, I was eager to try it. 

The best way to describe the smell is spicy and I found it very bearable. It has granules that make it difficult to apply but, they gently exfoilate as you rinse it off. it is advisable that you don't keep it on for too long else it is a pain in the arse to take off. I did that a couple of times and had to use a damp wash cloth to re-moisten it and wipe it off. On the whole, it did exactly what it said on the tin, my skin looked brighter and more awake. My skin had no adverse reaction to it.

The one major downside to it is that it expires. My jar expired on the 30th of September, but I was crazy busy at work and didn't have the time to use it often. So I had all this left over product, I didn't want it to go to waste, so I carried on using it. There was no change in consistency, my skin had no adverse reaction and it smelled fine. 


Definitely a keeper!